A pair of Nebraska volleyball players received top positional awards on Friday. Bergen Reilly and Andi Jackson received the honors at the AVCA Awards Banquet in Kansas City. Reilly was named the Setter of the Year and Jackson was named Middle Blocker of the Year. The AVCA positional awards are new this season.

Reilly averaged 10.47 assists per set and 2.70 digs per set. She also totaled 73 kills, 67 blocks and 19 aces. The setter was named Big Ten Player of the Year, Big Ten Setter of the Year and a first-team AVCA All-American. She was also a finalist for AVCA Player of the Year.

Jackson averaged 2.74 kills per set on .467 hitting with 1.12 blocks per set and 16 aces. Her .467 hitting percentage led the nation. The middle blocker was an AVCA All-American and All-Big for the second straight season. She was also an AVCA Player of the Year Semifinalist.

Kentucky, under the leadership of head coach Craig Skinner, has become an elite program in college volleyball. On Sunday, the team will have the chance to reach the highest of heights when they play for the National Championship versus Texas A&M.

“We are at the pinnacle of our sport, and it’s a great opportunity for Kentucky volleyball and our fans to be in this moment,” Skinner said.

After Kentucky escaped in a thrilling game against Wisconsin on Thursday night, the Cats and Aggies will be part of a historic title game. It’ll be the first time two SEC teams will be facing each other in the national championship.

“Couldn’t be more proud of our team and how we pulled that match out against Wisconsin,” Skinner said. “All the respect to Texas A&M. Congrats to the SEC for being an elite in volleyball.”

Creating an Environment Bigger than Themselves

When Kentucky lost the first set to Wisconsin in the Final Four matchup on Thursday night, the team was anything but smiles. However, as the team started to come back, the confidence was regained. Kentucky volleyball started to look happy.

Being happy on the court isn’t unique for a team like Kentucky. The team has a fun tradition of drawing smiley faces on their hands before each game.

“The beginning of the season, we gave them a picture of them playing volleyball as little girls,” Skinner said. “Those little girls played it because they love it. It creates an environment where you are playing for something bigger than yourself.”

That tradition has powered Kentucky to historic heights in 2025. Now, they’ll have an opportunity for a perfect ending.

“It becomes way bigger than that,” Skinner said. “It’s a great reminder because we play the sport because it’s fun.”

So much of Kentucky’s focus has been joy. Skinner said that his staff gave his players pictures of themselves playing volleyball at an early point in their career.

“It’s a collective effort to understand why we play the game,” Skinner said. “Why did that little athlete play volleyball? They loved it; they had fun.”

The NCAA Volleyball National Championship game will take place on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on ABC from T-Mobile Arena in Kansas City.

The University of Minnesota Duluth men’s basketball team improved to a 5-2 record in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) competition before the holiday break after securing an 80-65 win over the University of Mary inside Romano Gymnasium.

Leading the charge for the Bulldogs was Noah Paulson with his second 20-point game of the season. He led the way, shooting 10-14 (71.4%) from the field, collecting seven rebounds (two offensive), one assist, one block, and one steal. Following close behind was Jackson Fowlkes with 18 points and shooting 54.5% (6-11) from the field with a 50% (2-4) in three-pointers. He also collected the team’s season high in individual assists with five.

Entering the first half, Mattie Thompson, Paulson, and Nick Katona led an 11-2 scoring effort for the team’s first lead of the game in under three minutes. The Marauders then flipped the effort in the next four minutes on a 10-2 run to set the Bulldog lead to 13-12. Right after a three-pointer by Jackson Ware overcame a set of free throws from Katona to tie the game up at 15-15 with 12:22 to go.

By the seven-minute mark, UMD had lifted a colossal 20-9 scoring effort with eight points by Daniel Molhoek and seven from Fowlkes to jump out ahead 35-24. For the remainder of the half, the Bulldogs held firm to hold a 44-32 lead into the halftime break.

The Bulldogs kept the pace up as the first ten minutes of the second half saw Caleb Siwek, Fowlkes, and Paulson combine for a 21-16 scoring run to push a 65-48 lead. The Marauders narrowly outscored the Bulldogs in the following five minutes with 10 points to cut the lead by one to 74-58. UMD held on to the lead in the final minutes to seal an 80-65 win.

Overall, the team shot 51.7% (31-60) from the field, 37.5% (6-16) beyond the arc, and 70.6% (12-17) from the free throw line. The team outscored the Marauders in points in the paint, 46 to 16, while out-rebounding them 41 to 33. Leading the rebounding effort for UMD was Katona with eight total rebounds (one offensive).

The Bulldogs return after the holidays with their first matchup of 2026 on January 3rd on the road against Bemidji State University. Tipoff is set for 1:30 p.m. inside BSU Gymnasium.

 

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Meet the 2025 All-Area Volleyball Coach of the Year: Cissna Park’s Josh Landon

Why he’s Coach of the Year

Cissna Park’s third consecutive time in the Class 1A state tournament was the charm, as the Timberwolves capped a 40-1 season with their first-ever state championship. Coach Josh Landon stopped by The News-Gazette with players Addison Lucht, Josie Neukomm and Sophie Duis to chat with staff writer Joey Wright about the program’s sustained success:

How do you put this season into words?

➜ Landon: It’s honestly still tough to put into words. The more we talk about it, now that we’ve had a month since being state champs, it’s kind of setting in what we were able to accomplish. And that’s the thing, it was the expectations coming in on paper. You have everything back and only replacing two seniors.

It was the challenge of making sure that everybody stayed focused on one goal, and that was trying to be their best every single day. But man, what a run that they were able to put together. Looking at the postseason and not losing a set, it’s just remarkable what they were able to accomplish.

And you didn’t call a timeout.

➜ Landon: I did not. I wasn’t keeping track of that, but some of the girls did let me know that.

How do you approach a season like this one, where you have all those expectations both from the outside and within?

➜ Landon: It was a challenge. I shared with our assistant coach, Nicole Trumble, and I shared with my wife, Sarah that this is going to be one of the harder years to coach just because of those expectations and things. But it was one of those for us as a staff, we started looking outside the box on different things. We looked for different drills to help motivate, different ways that we could challenge the team every day in practice, and setting small, little goals.

We were fortunate enough that Gabby Wessels was coming back to the area, and she was able to volunteer with us as an alum, bringing some of the mindfulness, so to speak, from her time being at Chattanooga, where she got her master’s. That was a different side of the game that we were able to present to the girls.

For the players, has it set in for you that you are state champions?

➜ Lucht: Having a month now to reflect on it, it really is beginning to set in how big of a thing it was that we just accomplished. Right after we were really happy. But then obviously we had to get right into basketball, but now that we’ve kind of had time to reflect on it, I think it just keeps getting cooler and cooler by the day just being able to think that we did that, and to be able to know that I ended my last game of my volleyball career with a win on the biggest stage as a state champ.

➜ Duis: It’s been really cool, definitely. It’s set in a little bit, but I think it’s still a little surreal for me. Just super exciting. We’re just so proud of each other and grateful we got to do it together. And I just think we wouldn’t have asked for anything else to end the season

➜ Neukomm: I’m going have to agree with Addie.

Like she said, we want to win on the biggest stage, but more importantly, with all the girls that we’ve been working through blood, sweat and tears on this season.

We’re leaving, but there’s still a big group of girls coming up after us that’s extremely talented. And I think it was amazing that we all were able to hone on one mission, and we were all able to get done together.

As an athletic director as well as being the coach, how do you balance everything that comes along with a busy season?

➜ Landon: I’m thankful for a 15-minute drive to and from work every day to get my mind right. But it’s the planning part of it, right? You wear different hats, but honestly, I think that’s what helps it maintain its course.

It allows you to become a little bit easier, so to speak. I’m not just focused on coaching volleyball in that particular moment. We’ve also got to make sure that we have things ready for the junior high basketball season, junior high baseball, where are the golfers going this particular day through my AD role. It doesn’t allow me to sit there and dwell on certain aspects. It allows me to stay fresh, so to speak.

What’s it like playing for Josh?

➜ Duis: It’s really nice that we’ve gotten to have him as a coach for so long and to have that relationship. I think we know them well, and I think likewise, they know us really well, and they know what we respond to and what helps us the most.

I think having that connection made it a lot easier just to connect with each other and to get us pushing farther.

➜ Neukomm: I don’t know if I can put it into words, but I mean, not only him, but our assistant coaches in Coach Trumble and Coach Wessels, they’ve all put their heart and soul into this team, and I think they expect nothing but the best from us.

Not only on the court, but off the court, they expect us to be in the classroom, trying our hardest and then coming after school every day with a focus and a fresh mind ready just to pound out new drills or whether it’s old stuff that we just need to focus on the little things to become better players.

➜ Lucht: It really helped us having that connection since we’ve been practicing since fourth grade, and they know how we play, and they know how we respond to things, so they know how to coach us and what gets us motivated.

I don’t think it even gets recognized how much they put into us as as girls and just as a team, because like you were saying, Coach Landon has lots of hats that he has to wear, being the athletic director, and also having two daughters, and just trying to balance all that during the busy time of the fall when there’s multiple sports going on.

So I think that could sometimes go unnoticed, but it’s really appreciated.